I probably wouldn’t have taken the cover off the MFJ-988RT I just got if I hadn’t watched this video. Good idea to take steps ensure the cover doesn’t contact the board.
Good job Darren, it's all in the little things that keep us on the air! I purchased my MFJ-998RT about 3 or 4 years ago, had to protect as well but have never had a single problem with it. I use it remotely with my brand new ZeroFive 10-80M Ground plane that I bought, assembled and raised up in the air for 3 weeks now. I am very impressed with the antenna and tuner that I haven't even warmed up and used my Acom amplifier, lol.
Thank you, Captain Darren. I have learned so much from watching your videos. I really appreciate that you take the time to explain what you’re doing so that new Ham’s like me can learn. I am sorry to see that you are in such a high noise area. I too, I have a zero-five vertical antenna. I found that using a CMC RFI isolator from MyAntennas actually did reduce the amount of noise. Please note that some Ham’s believe it doesn’t work and it’s a waste of money.
Nice video. I am the guy Dom told you about. (Ka8jil) I have the new 998 rt still in the box. I will make your changes and hope for the best..Still upset that MFj offered no help for the failure.
Hi Tom, nice to meet you through RU-vid comments. I bet you were surprised to hear that I mentioned about the failure. Right now , I've removed my 998RT and boxed it up. I'll use it as a backup. I have a new amp with a builtin tuner. 73's de N4VFR.
@@DarrenN4VFR Oh you got rid of the 998RT .. don't blame you .. like to know what amp you have please sir with the antenna tuner built in? Thank you for all you do keep it up.
@@kayakbassfishing473 I still have the 998RT for another project. Here is my new amplifier with the built in antenna tuner, it's the RF Kit RF2K-S from Germany. If your in the USA, you can order from Island Amplifiers: islandamplifier.com/product/rf-kit/
The decorative foe Rock is an outstanding idea. Nice job on the video, covers all of the basics. I just bought a 998RT and I am going to install a 40M half square. 73, Don KO7i
Everything I've read is they say remote tuners/baluns work best mounted at least six inches above the ground. Ref: John Portune RU-vid Flagpole Ant. video. Getting ready to install the 994BRT. 73 Bob WA4MBG @@DarrenN4VFR
Good video. I have a couple minor issues with it I’ve left in the comments but well done. I understand that you ended up not using this tuner because you got an RF-KIT amp with a built in tuner. I considered the RF-KIT amp too (very nice) but decided on the Mercury LUX mainly because it’s American made but also because the tuner is NOT built in. (Separation of concerns). Also, it’s better to have the tuner remote and close to the antenna which is why I chose the MFJ-998RT. Cheers!
Great job great video the lightning arrester is fine you can't pass DC voltage through them. No lightning in no lightning out 😆 better way is to just run a control line for power out to the 998 . 73 k1SHE
Thanks for your very informative videos OM. I opened up my new MFJ 994BRT to do the mod and discovered this model does not have a heat shield. It was still a good idea to look everything over before installing out by the antenna anyway. 73, Bob WA4MBG
Just a suggestion, since you have what appears to be a conduit, install something like the RCS-8V antenna switch and do a connection to the UNUN, the 998RT, and one directly to the switch (for 60M) and test between them. It would also give you two spare ports for other antennas later, AND, it would all fit under your "rock".
Hello Capt Darren. MFJ is surprizing me everytime I am buying one of their Products. It's always funny when the Mail Man knocks on my Door to hand over the Parcel and there's a strange Noise coming out of the original Box that makes you think there could be like a hidden Damage done to the Item inside during the Ride from the Seller to the Recipient. After unpacking the Antenna Tuner I bought I needed to open the Lid and a Screw fell out which doesn't even belong in there. However it came in there...but the Antenna Tuner worked fine. You Guys did a fantastic Job installing the MFJ-998RT Unit. And Congrats on your home made Modification, Capt. And yes, don't sell your Palstar AT2K - keep it as Backup. Happy Weekend & 73 de YFUG 💯👍🙋♂🍻
Good Job Darren, I have a similar setup as you. I use the zero-five 43' with the MFJ-998RT. My coax run is approximately 300' of LMR-600. I had a few tuning issues at first, but I read that the system can correct itself if you cycle power to the tuner. More often than not, I found that the tuner provides lower SWR tuning cycles after cycling power. Give it a try when SWR values are higher than what you think they should be. I also learned that the trans-match at the shack needs to be located between a DC blocking lightening arrestor and antenna. We Enjoy all your videos. 73 - KL7EZ
Hi Scott, yeah I figured that out where I need to sometimes cycle the power to get it to tune. I think its called Sticky Tune. With regards to the lightning arrestors, it has to be placed between the tuner and the antenna. Are you bypassing the 4:1 Unun? I will bypass it in my next video and see how it tunes.
I have been watching you for a while. I moved from Daytona Beach FL to Columbus OH 17 years ago and man has it gone by fast. I just became a Ham in Feb WV4TTT and I really enjoy your adventures you take me on. I loved the Yaesu radio you had before wow beautiful .. but liked the Icom too .. understood your reasoning for change .. to the Icom .. I am in an HOA and man I can't get my antenna up .. tried twice they rejected me twice and now I am trying the " HOA BUSTER " .. going to try to use my gutter for an antenna .. I bought a LG Automatic Tuner .. I have a Icom 7300 and a Yaesu FTDX10 and two Yaesu FT 101E and a FT 101EE I use for 10 meters I am getting my general end of October ... wish me luck on making my gutter an antenna .. HOA BUSTER is supposed to work for that ..
Please be advised, The manual says to not to change the radio interface menu item. “This function is not used in the remote tuner. Leave this setting to OFF. “
I agree with AcydDrop about removing the unun. I have the zero five 80-10 flagpole antenna with a mfj 998brt, and kept the unun out of the mix which made it easier to tune on 80 meters.
Lightning arrestors shunt DC to ground. Buy a straight key for tuning. Is their not a control cable for tuning from the radio so you can use the tune button?
Great job Captain. Really like the "Let's Go Brandon" Edition. I'm looking at putting up a vertical right now. And this combo (05 @ 43' & 998) is the setup I'm thinking about going with.
@@DarrenN4VFR Please let us know about the outcome going directly to the antenna. My take is that if the tuner can handle it, why not remove the UnUn from the mix.
Hi have the same set up as u with the 998 RT. I having problems with my bias tee 4117 switch. Do u know off alternative switch for me mfj. Seam not to be making any more I using icom 7300. Or is there a setting. That I can set so I can just tune from radio.
Make sure you m&p coax is the same velocity factor as the rg213 which is 0.66vf,,,it has to be all the same vf from rig to antenna end.,,,as for your noise try a noise phase unit.
Consult PolyPhaser and see if the protector you are using will allow your DC voltage to pass through as a control voltage. Can you run a separate control line?
Thank you. I was thinking about using a battery and solar charger to power the 998RT therefore, I wouldn't have to worry about the bias T DC power. Sometime I needed to cycle the on/off power to invoke tuning of the 998RT. So I may have to come up with a way to cycle the power remotely....
Capt Darren if I wasn't mistaken it sounded like you might be buying a new radio and selling your 7610. MIght I ask which radio are you going get next??? Love to know 🙂
Darren, Thanks for this video. I have wondered how a remote tuner would work on my ZeroFive 43 foot antenna and now I know. That is good information about the fixes/modifications you applied to the MFJ998 RT tuner. The troubleshooting for the 5 volt getting shorted was a good job. Right now I'm using my Flexradio Tunergenius XL tuner that is next to my Flexradio 6600 as the tuner. Do you have any feedback about the difference in your transmit and receive performance since moving the turner outside next to the antenna? In looking through my logs on QRZ I see we have had a few FT8 contacts. I am WD8OQS. Thanks Again and 73.. John
My tuner didn't last too long, maybe about a month before I ended up selling my 998RT. Right now, I'm using an 80m double bazooka with my Anan 7000dle Mk3 and also my IC7610. I will probably use the Zero Five 43' as my diversity antenna here at my Florida QTH. I have so much Power Line RFI noise. 73 Darren N4VFR
@@JohnWallace74 While I'm away from my station, I don't have any indications or display that tells you your tuned. I'm now using the Palstar HF Auto and I have a remote camera facing the display.
Old News. Another ham concealed his remote tuner under a similar fake rock back in 2016 and was featured on Page 64 of the March 2016 QST Magazine, Hints and Kinks column. You could have given him credit for beating you to the punch back in 2016, but this suggests you did not do diligence and research the available literature before embarking on your project. You might have avoided a number of mistakes that way. Just saying. :-) A 4:1 balun and automatic tuner are both matching networks - so one is redundant, like wearing a belt with suspenders. It might tune better without the balun, as it is certainly unnecessary. The tuner does the job well enough on its own. Plugging a live (ON) DC power connector into equipment a poor practice. You could easily short the center pin with outer connector or equipment chassis and short the supply and damage the equipment as you insert the plug, especially if equipment is connected to other gear sharing a single point ground system. Best practice is to ALWAYS turn DC power off when connecting or or disconnecting power cables. You may consider this paranoid, but repair service centers make good money fixing this fault. You missed an opportunity to teach a best practice in your video. Running a bias tee through a DC-blocking lightning arrester demonstrates you do not know how your equipment works, AND you failed to read Item 7. on Page 4. of the MFJ User Manual, which clearly states: "If optional Lightning Surge Suppressors are used ... make sure they are the type that will pass DC such as the MFJ-272. DC power is supplied down the feed line to the tuner." Duh. You lose credibility as an expert with this fail. Curious you did not edit mistakes out of the video, simply stating proper procedure, instead. That would save time and make you appear a lot smarter. The Let's Go Brandon sign is surely misplaced - many hams enjoy the hobby to escape political conflict. Parenthetically, Kenwood transceivers have a simple single button that transmits low power CW for tuning, automatically restoring your mode and power of operation. Even old TenTec rigs got this right. Why ICOM and Yaesu rigs do not have this is beyond comprehension. Just saying. Your buddy Mike is a good sport. I would have had him hold the camera and record my progress - instead of making him do the work. Kudos to Mike for being a good sport. Thanks, but I am disappointed and not impressed by your story. 73, OM. TT
Oh boy the joys of verticals, you have a lot of noise on the bands, that would be a head wrecker.. by the way, get the COMP on and get some drive in that audio..
@@kayakbassfishing473 The COMP on the Icom IC7610 when turned on limits the audio sine wave into more of a square wave. Remember what a sine wave looks like? It basically chops off the tops and bottoms of the sine wave to create a more square wave. So, it provides more gain for lower frequencies and less gain for higher frequencies. In other words, the lower transmit signals levels are amplified more and the higher transmit signals levels are little to no amplification. This will provide more audio punch to raise your Automatic Level Control (ALC) to closer to the top of red line level. And with running an HF Amplifier, it will send higher transmit signal levels so the amp can transmit more power. Be careful to not overdrive the ALC levels or you will get distortion. 73's de N4VFR
Putting politics into the video was a poor choice. Very disappointing. Who had that idea? Was it the person in the background? Respect takes a while to earn and is so easily lost.
That only applies if you are opposite of the politics that you are being presented. Captain Darren has had to deal with the city many times fussing about his Antenna and had somebody come and cut his line once .. so dude .. POLITICS is in everything we do these days .. you better wake up man .. I deal with it too where I live .. so leave Captain Darren alone .. he is doing good work with his videos and I for one appreciate what he is doing .. don't watch the video if you don't like what is going on .. create your own .. love to see how you exclude politics out of your life .. no way you can do it ..
@@kayakbassfishing473 I keep it out of ham radio. You know because there's no reason to add politics into ham radio. People that go out of their way to bring it in usually have an ax to grind. I'm a huge fan of this channel. I don't want to see it go down a politics path.
I'm not trying to be critical here or be a negative or anything, but you didn't do this setup properly. What you need to do is remove the Unun entirely and connect the 998RT in it's place. What you've done here is not really any different than having a tuner in the shack. I appreciate the effort and I love your videos but this is just not the way it's meant to be done.
Thank you for your input. I'll make another video about that. I'll measure my performance with the 4:1 UNUN and remove it out of play and connect it directly to the 43' Zero Five using the wire antenna feed point from the 998RT and compare the performance.
You are doing great Darren keep it up man .. love what you do and how you work it out and let us newbies see your trials and tribs .. makes us more confident we can do it too .. keep going man I am loving what you do!!!!
